Mainstream reporting normalized Stalin’s atrocities even at their peak

Evidence

Despite the immediacy of catastrophic evil, Duranty’s article describes the Constitution of the USSR as one of the “the most democratic in the world… a foundation on which a future democracy may be built.” In addition to praiseworthy descriptions of the Red Army, free education and medical care, communal housing, and equality of the sexes, there is an upbeat commentary in which the “great purge” is breezily described as “one of the periodic cleansings of the Communist Party.” Duranty reports that this “cleansing” is “now over,” and people are “repairing the damage,” as if the country were tidying up after a particularly nasty winter storm. In fact, the Stalinist pattern of violence, imprisonment, exile, and execution merely shifted its focus with a swift and terrifying ferocity to the Baltic and eastern Poland. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1130

Categorization

• XREF: Uncanny parallel to contemporary tech journalism — the same upbeat normalization of concentrated institutional power (Facebook, Google) that this book’s framing depends on. — connects to: Mainstream American magazines lionized Stalin as a participatory manager for decades — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1131
• SEED: Article angle: ‘What’s Going On in Russia?’ as a template for today’s coverage of surveillance companies — the Duranty pattern of reporting institutional abuse as tidy housekeeping.

Broader Connections

• Mainstream American magazines lionized Stalin as a participatory manager for decades #exemplifies (0.75) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1131